Henry's Charity Talk

This winter we moved to a new ward and they asked us to speak in Sacrament meeting.  None of us were very thrilled with it since we were still living in the hotel and didn't have any of our church books, not much space to work on it, and just plain being stubborn.  But we did it and now I'm sharing these talks with you.

Here's Henry's... 

(copied directly from his notes)

So because I'm only a youth speaker, I only have to speak for 5 minutes, so ....(talk slow,) ummmm..... (look at clock.)

My name is Henry Elliot and I'm a freshman at Canon City high school and patiently waiting for Track and field to start.  I think we moved here about 2-3 months ago.  I've gotten to know a lot of the youth so far and I'm glad we are such good friends already.  (grin) 

Or some of them are at least (just kidding and smile.)  So this past Monday, I along with some of my family, as you can tell, were asked to give a talk.  Now that's what you call a warm welcome. (grin)  I tried to give an excuse like "oh, well, that's just too bad because we aren't actually in your ward yet..."  As you can tell, it didn't work in the very least. (grin.)

But that's okay I enjoy writing talks.  It's fun for one thing and I usually learn something new about my topic.  The worst part is right before you get up, and they say your name to everyone.  yeah, that's when the butterflies are the worst. (grin)  So please bear with me as I stutter through my talk. (grin.)

(Deep breath and smile)

What is Charity?  Charity in the Bible Dictionary is defined as "the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love, not merely affection; the pure love of Christ."  And in Moroni 7:47 it states "but charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."  I think that is an awesome scripture; knowing that Charity can endure forever no mater what (grin.)  In Moroni 8:17 it refers to Charity as the perfect love and again is everlasting.  Finally, charity is a commandment.  All men should have Charity and except they who have charity they were nothing.

Charity is very important.  It is stressed throughout the scriptures.  In 1 Corinthians 13:1-5 Paul stresses the extreme importance of charity and what it is and isn't.  "Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge; and though I have faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing."  Meaning to me, I could live the very best life in every way, shape, and form; that I could be the best man in the world...but if I don't have charity, it will have done me no good in the next life.  I have to not only have love, but show it.  Moroni 10:21 backs me up fairly well when it says "except ye have Charity ye can in nowise be saved in the kingdom of God..."

Now that I have presented you with new or renewed tools, it is our job to apply it in our lives.  And hopefully when we practice it, it will be second nature to us and that we will be drawn closer to our Heavenly Father.  That it will be well with us in the last day.  This doesn't just apply to all the grown ups.  You kids out there can practice it too. (grin.)  You can invite someone you don't know or someone not having a good day to come play a game with you and your friends, or say something nice to them.  Parents and other adults, you are always being watched.  You set an example to others around you and are often role models and don't even know it. (grin)

Text? List? Or Facebook?

While planning Tori's birthday party, I asked her to make me a list of items she would like to have to eat at her party so I could figure out what to buy at the store the next day.

In true, Tori fashion, she quickly and without thinking replies....

"Do you want me to text, list, or facebook you?"

Good thing I'm not too technology challenged to live with my daughter!

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

Mom, do you know what I want to be when I grow up?

No Zach, what?

A marine.  A marine that paints things.

How's that going to work for you?

I'll paint the bad guys faces when they get close to me so they run away crying.

(pause)

But I might die.  Becuase it takes me so long to get into my thing with my paintbrushes.

It's Cookie Friday

With it being Good Friday, the kids are home from school today.

We decided to make cookies.

First I made some chocolate covered oreos for Easter. 

I'm so excited about these, because although my painting technique leaves ALOT to be desired, this is the first time the painted chocolate hasn't melted and ruined the design when I poured the main section.

YEA ME!

Then, we made sugar cookies.

I wanted to try out decorating them using Sweet Sugar Bells instructions.

Tori and Zach helped.

Okay, they really ended up doing it all...I'm a cool mom that way.

(Yea, right.)

We weren't really patient on the designs and didn't wait the 20 minutes between layers like we were supposed to, but we had fun anyway.

Zach went with more abstract designs.

While Tori tried to paint intracit designs,

and ended up hating them so much she had to eat them.

And mine were rather boring

But we had a good time and now have some yummy cookies.

I Stand All Amazed....

Okay, so again I stand amazed by the little things that give me hope to keep carrying on with the trials in life.  The stress over the house and other financial matters keeps building.  I've been trying to figure out what we are supposed to do.  We didn't get the rental house that we thought might be the answer to our prayers, and although I've applied at several places in town, I haven't even gotten one call back.

Things have been slightly stressed.

So we decided to get away for a few days and go on vacation.

We went home.

We spent a lot of time with family and at the family store The Chocolate Box.

One day when we were there, Hank started talking to a young man that he had known when he was in our church's young men's program several years ago.  The young man had gone on a mission for our church and while there had suffered terrible carbon monoxide poisoning.  He had been sent home early and fought hard to get back to a normal life despite some terrible health issues.

When we returned from vacation, Hank sent a letter to the mission leader of this young man's mission.  Apparently the man was a warden at one of the prisons with which Hank works.  He wanted him to know that this young man was doing well and recovering.

The mission leader responded almost immediately thanking Hank for the information and the two struck up an email "conversation".  Hank was excited to know that an LDS member could indeed succeed in the strange prison system we find ourselves working for.  The warden said he was actually just getting ready to move next week to another prison complex where he would advance and there was hope.  Hank was told to "keep in touch."

Immediately Hank went and looked up the new prison area.  Funny to find out, it was one of the prisons that had just pulled his paperwork for consideration on a paid move to a lieutenant's position.  I'm not saying anything will happen.  It could all just be an interesting "HUH" moment....but I still stand amazed by the little things in life.

“Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.  (Alma 37:6.)

I truly stand amazed and again have hope that the Lord is truly looking out for me and my little family through the stupid mistakes that we make each day.

You Don't Understand....

Zach's been pretty sick lately.

I got a call from the school nurse Wednesday and she said he wasn't feeling well and wanted to take a breathing treatment.  He had started coughing with the change of seasons, and I told him to go see her if he felt he needed. 

By the end of the day, he was not feeling well and on Thursday, had had a very low grade fever.  He stayed home from school and I dosed him with cough syrup (a big no, no I know, but you should have heard him!) and ibuprofen.  He still wasn't better Friday morning, so he stayed home then too.

His fever broke Friday afternoon, but he still wasn't feeling better Saturday.  So I mentioned that I was going to take him to the doctor.  Apparently he really must not have felt good because that's all he wanted to do all day.  Finally that afternoon, I took him over to Ambucare.

The doc wasn't totally sure what was wrong with him.  He wasn't sure if he had some kind of whooping type cough that was manifesting in adults, or if it was just his asthma rearing up.  So he went ahead and put him on an antibiotic, an anti-inflammatory, and some steroids.  He said Zach should probably start feeling better by Sunday afternoon.

Well, Sunday morning came, and he must not have been feeling better.  When I woke him to get ready for church, he starts sobbing....

"You don't understand what I'm going through."

"I can't handle this Mom."

Is it bad that I just rolled my eyes and kicked him out of bed?  Son....you have no idea how much I understand.

I can't handle this either.

Fiesta Friday-- Strawberry Instant Breakfast

I  got this recipe from a lady at our church.  She was sharing healthy weight loss meals at (at the time) Enrichment night.  She and her husband had gone on this diet and lost LOTS of weight.  This was the shake they had for breakfast every morning.

This shake has all the vitamins and proteins and such to make a really healthy breakfast or other meal.  I can't remember which diet or book they had read, but it worked for them.

I tried it when I was going through one of my weight loss periods.  I would have it for breakfast every morning.  I didn't lose much weight, but I fell in love with the shake.

Over time, I ran out of ingredients so my shake evolved.  I eventually dropped the gelatin and olive oil and found the shake just as yummy.  Not sure it has all the vitamins and such anymore, but it still tastes wonderfully and is VERY filling.

So, I'm sharing this Strawberry Instant Breakfast for this week's Fiesta Friday.

I hope you'll let me know if you try it and what you think.